Drowning In Words
by kurgaya
Summary: AU - IchiHitsu - A broken heart, people falling from the sky, an annoying friend, and almost drowning? Fate has a funny way of getting people together.


**Drowning In Words**

**(B-Day Present For QueenOfCitrus) **

Do...  
Do you...  
Do you know...  
Do you know how long I've waited?  
To look up, from below,  
Just to find someone like you?

~ Lunacy Fringe (The Used)

* * *

When Ichigo had been told that his New Year's Resolution was about to come true by some random blonde haired stranger that he walked past in the street, Ichigo did the only logical thing and forgot about it. The orange haired, twenty year old university student had been on the way to the library, not because he wanted to study, but because he was trying to hide from his, supposedly, best mate Renji Abarai. A little under a month ago, just before Christmas, Ichigo had spotted his girlfriend of two months Rukia Kuchiki and his best mate Renji snogging. Outraged, he had revealed himself at the time and demanded to know what exactly was going on. Renji, the simpleton, had given him the most obvious answer of, 'I'm kissing a girl, what does it look like?' Consequently this had led to a full blown argument between them:

_"That's my girlfriend you're kissing idiot!"_

_"Well, yeah, I know that. Got a problem? If she likes me better than she likes me better."_

_"If she likes you better then fine, but she's with me at the moment!"_

_"For god's sake man, loosen up. It's not like you two had sex, so why you so upset at losing her?"_

It had gone on for longer than that, the tension between the two adults slowly mounting up, until the person they were arguing about stepped in and proceeded to drag Renji off yelling, and dump Ichigo in about five seconds flat. Ichigo had been left standing by his house utterly distraught; what Renji had said was true, they hadn't had sex in the two months they had been together, but Rukia had still been his girlfriend, and he really had loved her. She obviously just didn't love him.

So since then the two men had not said a word to each other, though Renji did keep trying to start a conversation, and Ichigo was now going out of his way to avoid the other at all costs. Hence the reason he was heading to a library on a Saturday, because he knew that Renji had never stepped foot in Karakura library in his life, and probably never would. It was a bit depressing though, suddenly losing your girlfriend before Christmas, and so when he finally got around to telling his father and two younger sisters about it just before New Year's, they had practically forced him to make a New Year's Resolution of getting somebody else. It was now the 2nd of January, and after a slightly disturbing phone call from a certain red head, Ichigo walked into the library.

He didn't know where he was going to find somebody else because out of all the fish in the sea the only person he wanted right now was Rukia. And it wasn't like he was just going to get her back - his father had told him to forget about her, and honestly, he really had tried but her bright eyes and fiery attitude were rather hard to shake out of his head. Ichigo sighed quietly and scanned his downtrodden eyes around the enormous space of the library he was now in. He loved Karakura library - it was absolutely huge, and almost every single book you could ever want was in here. There were three floors to this building, and the countless bookshelves towered high, and if Ichigo hadn't been here so many times before he probably would have gotten lost. Going up the stairs to the second floor Ichigo counted seven rows down on his right and then turned to go down the seventh; this was the place where Shakespeare's plays were.

He grinned when he spotted that there was one of those _wickedly fun ladders to ride_ leaning up against the shelf on the left, and completely abandoning the idea of looking for a book, he glanced over his shoulder to see if there was anybody in view. There wasn't and he approached the ladder and gripped the bottom. The whole ladder shook; a book fell on his head. Yelling out, knocking the ladder, and probably catching the attention of anybody else on the floor, he jumped back just in time to avoid another book that crashed to the floor.

Then there was a yell, which certainly wasn't his own, and Ichigo's heart sank when he realized the ladder was slowly tipping over, and there had been somebody standing at the top.

Four more books clattered to the floor but Ichigo ignored them, springing forwards and holding out his arms, just in time to catch the small body that had literally just fallen from the sky. There was a monstrous 'crash' as the white ladder came into contact with the floor, and Ichigo winced. "Are you ok?" he asked when everything went quiet again, worried and feeling rather guilty. For god's sake, this -

- absolutely adorable -

- kid couldn't gotten really hurt!

_Wait, what?_

"Yeah, I'm fine," said the, _absolutely adorable_, kid that was now lying in Ichigo's arms. "Can you put me down?"

Realizing the awkwardness of the situation Ichigo fumbled, but gently put the boy down. Said boy dusted himself off, once back on his own two feet, and his wide teal eyes glanced up at Ichigo nervously. "Um... You haven't seen my glasses have you? I only need them for reading but still..."

Ichigo had not seen the boy's glasses fall from the sky but he quickly set about looking for them, rapidly finding them squashed under the book that had landed on his head. He fished them out from underneath, letting out a thankful sigh when he saw they weren't broken, and handed them to the short white haired, absolutely adorable, boy standing by him.

"Thanks," he said, setting the glasses onto his face. "Thanks for catching me by the way, I was sure that ladder was stable."

Woops, thought Ichigo, but he didn't say anything aloud about him being the reason the ladder had fallen over. "That's alright," said Ichigo, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "You sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine," said the other, and he started to pick the books off of the floor. Still feeling guilty, Ichigo helped, and within seconds all five of the books were safely back in the boy's arms. "My name's Tōshirō Hitsugaya," said boy introduced. "And before you say anything, I'm not a kid."

Ichigo laughed, and suddenly the tense atmosphere was gone. "I wasn't going to say anything," he admitted. "But if you're not a kid how old are you?"

"I'm eighteen," Tōshirō said. "I'm in my last year of college."

Ichigo continued to smile, wondering why on earth the boy was telling him all of this. Not that he minded, because, other than he adorableness, there was something about the stranger that sparked his interest. He didn't know if it was the pure white, impossibly spiky hair, or the teal eyes, but something about Tōshirō really... really... Well, Ichigo wasn't sure. But he liked it. "Name's Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo said, feeling that he needed to introduce himself too. "And I'm twenty before you ask."

This earned a smile out of Tōshirō, and Ichigo's heart lifted.

"Nice to meet you Kurosaki," Tōshirō said. "You wouldn't happen to be the family to own the Kurosaki Clinic would you?"

Surprise was written all over Ichigo's face. "Yeah," he said. "My dad runs it but I'm in uni learning to become a doctor, so I'll probably take over soon. You know of it, then?"

"Been there a few times myself," was the reply. "Not for a fair amount of years though, and it was never me in need of medical attention, but more so my flatmate."

Ichigo nodded, and silence reined over them for a moment. In the end he broke that silence by asking, embarrassed, "Help me pick up the ladder would you?"

Tōshirō blushed. "Forgot about that," he mumbled, but he agreed. Setting down the books in his arms he wandered over to the ladder. Ichigo already stood on the other side, and they both bent down to grab the sides. "On three then... one... two... three!"

The ladder came up easily, and without any trouble it was quickly leant back up against the shelf. Ichigo dusted his hands off when he was done, and looked over to see Tōshirō checking a blue watch on his left wrist. "I've got to go," he said, picking the books back up. "But it was nice meeting you Kurosaki."

"Ichigo," Ichigo corrected. "Kurosaki makes me sound old."

Tōshirō smirked, already halfway down the isle. "Then I'll call you Kurosaki." he said, and for a reason that he wasn't sure of, he waved goodbye to the orange haired stranger as if they had been friends for years.

Ichigo watched the boy's small back until he was gone, and disappointment weighed down his shoulders. He still wasn't sure what it was about Tōshirō that made him so relaxed but... He shook his head, smiling, and it was only then that the words of the blonde haired man wearing that weird green and white striped hat came back to him:

'Your New Year's Resolution is about to come true.'

* * *

Fate had a funny way of working, Ichigo mused, a total of two months later when he spotted Tōshirō walk into the room. Ok, so two months was a long time, but considering he knew absolutely nothing about Tōshirō other than his name, age, and the fact that he went to college, he had deemed it likely when the boy left the library that they were never, ever going to see each other again. But now, sitting at the side, in the water, of Karakura swimming pool, he realized that Fate probably wanted them to meet again.

Cause really, what were the chances they decided to go swimming on the same day?

However, unlike Ichigo, Tōshirō didn't appear to be alone. He waited by the seating area of the pool, dressed only in a long pair of blue swimming shorts, until two women came out of the female's changing room; one of them was only just taller than him, and had her dark hair pinned up, and the other was the complete opposite with long strawberry blonde hair and the biggest pair of breasts Ichigo had probably ever seen, and she was just the right height to grab Tōshirō and -

Ichigo paled. Well...

Tōshirō and the two girls chatted for a moment, throwing their towels on some of the seats, and it was with slight surprise that Ichigo realized Tōshirō had not brought a towel out with him. Shrugging it off, and thinking maybe he shouldn't be watching them so closely, he decided to go back to swimming because, after all, that was why he was here. He liked the feel of the cool water around him, and the peacefulness of the whole thing let his mind wander.

More notably, wander to Renji and Rukia.

It was March now. March. And he was still ignoring them both. Ok, so you could say he was being a bit too sour, but after hearing that the two of them had gotten together officially, his temper had just risen right back up again. And because they were now together it meant that Renji hadn't kissed her as a joke or a dare or as a drunken stupor, because Ichigo had really been hoping any of those had been the case, and the guy really did have feelings for her.

Which Ichigo guessed was ok. Sort of. He himself had gotten over Rukia long ago. Sort of. Oh love was so confusing. Why did he even bother? He had been stupid making a New Year's Resolution over the thing...

"Speaking of New Year's Resolutions..." Ichigo mumbled, coming to a stop in his swimming. Where was Tōshirō? He scanned the pool, ignoring anybody who did not have white hair, but his eyes came to a stop upon seeing the long strawberry blonde hair which belonged to his target's friend. Friend? Girlfriend? Cousin? Sister? Whatever, he didn't know. The woman was at the side of the pool and was speaking to someone standing by the side -

Oh, there was Tōshirō. Now why would you come all this way and not get in the pool? The two people were chatting again, and the woman was smiling brightly. The other girl, the short one, was nowhere to be seen, but Ichigo didn't really give a damn, and, plucking up his courage, he began to, very, very slowly, swim over. As he did the woman turned, as if someone had called her name from the other side of the pool, and giving a farewell to the boy - no, adult (Ichigo sniggered) - standing at the edge of the pool, she swam off in the other direction. Ichigo took this chance to swim a bit faster (was Fate still messing with this whole situation?) and maybe he could even talk to the boy - adult, adult, adult! - before he went and sat down.

Tōshirō obviously didn't see him approaching, for he turned around and stepped to the side as a young girl ran past him. His lips mouthing a swear word (Ichigo smiled), Tōshirō snapped at the child not to run at the side of the pool, but the girl didn't listen, and neither did the boy running after her; the boy, actually, didn't even see Tōshirō, let alone hear him, for there was a rough collision, and shouted apology, and water splashed everywhere as the white haired teen fell into the pool.

Ichigo almost laughed, but he didn't, for Tōshirō did not resurface again. At first he wasn't worried, and just continued to swim over (he was almost there now - yes alright, it was a bloody big pool) but as life at the swimming pool went on Ichigo realized that Tōshirō probably should have come up by now.

He didn't need to hear Tōshirō's friend's scream to alert him to the fact that Tōshirō couldn't swim.

Now he, on the other hand, could swim, and very well for that matter. It only took him a matter of seconds to dive under and grab the boy, wrapping an arm around the thin waist and dragging him up to the air above them. Shaking the blur from his eyes Ichigo pushed through the water and reached out for the ledge, very aware of the lean arms clinging to his body like a lifeline, and the blob of orange speeding towards him. Ignored the woman for now, Ichigo lifted Tōshirō from the pool, de-tangling the arms from around his neck in the process, and sat him on the side like a child. His doctor side kicked in and he immediately checked the other over for any lasting damage but he seemed ok, just shocked. "Tōshirō," he whispered, reaching up and brushing the flat white locks away from the frightened teal eyes. "Deep breaths ok? Deep breaths..."

The woman arrived next to him at that moment, looking thoroughly panicked. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she repeated. "Tōshirō are you ok?"

Tōshirō nodded, breathing in. Ichigo and the women both sighed in relief, and said women climbed out of the pool to sit by her friend. She rubbed his back comfortingly, whispering words in his ear. Ichigo smiled and climbed out also. "I'll be right back," he said to them both, but neither of them gave any response. Not surprised, Ichigo went over to the seating area and grabbed his jacket from one of the purple seats, hurrying back over to the two people still sitting by the pool. Now there was the other girl there, and she and the woman spoke quickly to each other as Tōshirō sat there continuing to take deep breaths.

Good boy, Ichigo thought, and he slipped back into his previous position at the edge of the pool. (He almost kicked the girl in the pool in the face in the process, but she didn't seem to notice). "Here Tōshirō," he said, and he wrapped his favourite black jacket around the boy's shoulders. He had actually gotten it from Rukia when they had been together for that short period of time, but the reason he loved it so much was because Karin had accidentally cut off the pocket when in need of some fabric, thinking that the jacket was old and unwanted, and so Yuzu, deeming it to nice to throw away, had sown another pocket back on, but this one had a pink heart on it. Ichigo had first refused to where it, but the heart had grown on him and in the end he thought it was pretty cute; having a heart on a jacket where the human heart would be and all.

Tōshirō sniffed, wrapping the jacket tighter around himself.

"Thank you," then said the woman on the side with the light hair. "I don't know where that useless lifeguard is but... thanks for being there."

Ichigo smiled. "No problem," he said. "I didn't want Tōshirō to drown now, did I?"

"Have you two met before?" asked the girl in the pool.

Ichigo shrugged. "Briefly," he said. "Two months ago in the libra -"

"You must be Ichigo Kurosaki then!" interrupted the other girl. "I'm Rangiku Matsumoto and that's Momo Hinamori, we go to college with Tōshirō. He wouldn't stop talking about you for _days_."

Tōshirō, seemingly now aware of his surroundings, blushed. "Shut up Matsumoto."

The two girls giggled. Ichigo guessed this was a common occurrence. "Oh?" he said. "I'm flattered Tōshirō. You feeling ok?"

"Yes, thank you. Sorry for scaring you all."

"Just as long as you're ok Shiro-chan," Hinamori said in a sing-song voice, and Ichigo saw Tōshirō frown darkly. "Do. Not. Call. Me. That."

Rangiku and Hinamori just laughed, and even Ichigo, much to Tōshirō's displeasure, began to chuckle.

* * *

An hour and a half later Tōshirō was on the phone to Renji Abarai.

Of course, he didn't know who Renji Abarai was, and he hadn't even intended to be on the phone with him in the first place, but after he and Rangiku returned to their flat Tōshirō had realized that he still had Ichigo's black jacket. He didn't know where the man lived and had panicked for a moment, but upon hanging it up on the hook by the front door, a mobile fell out. Swearing because it wasn't his mobile, Tōshirō picked it up and wondered what the hell he was going to do with it.

It only occurred to him an hour later that he could use the phone to call Ichigo (hopefully) and find out his address. He had opened the phone, thanking Fate that there wasn't a password, and checked through the contacts for a 'Home' or something that would help. And that was when the phone had gone off in his hand, making him jump out of his skin and fall off his bed. Rangiku had rushed in at that point, asking if he was hurt, and Tōshirō had just panicked, asking her what the hell he was supposed to do with the phone.

She had just shrugged in her bored way and left him alone.

And so here he was, clicking the answer button and putting mobile to his ear.

_"Yo Ichi! You actually bloody answered for once!"_

First impressions were sorted; Tōshirō did not like Renji Abarai. He frowned and sat himself back on his bed to listen to what the other had to say, considering he'd missed most of it.

_" - just being an ass really. I mean, it's been over two months mate, can't you get over your fucking depression and come and sort things out? You know I've been trying but I can't do much if you don't answer the phone! But, er, actually, I did go round your house today but you weren't there and sorry for breaking the window, I mean, fuck man, I was really hoping you would be in -"_

At this point Tōshirō had had enough.

"I don't think Kurosaki's going to be very pleased that you broke into his house."

_"Holy shit, who the fuck are you?"_

"That is none of your damn business -"

_"Oh god don't tell me you're Ichi's boyfriend or something! Oh man, tell Ichi I didn't realize he'd go gay -"_

"And why is being gay a problem?" Tōshirō asked, very glad that no one could see him blushing. Yeah, alright, he'll admit it; gay; guilty as charged.

_"It - It's not - not really, I mean... Oh god... This is awkward man... How long you two been together?"_

_We're not_, said a voice inside of Tōshirō's head, but for some reason that only Fate would know Tōshirō decided to lie through his teeth and say, "Two months."

There was a groan from the other end of the line. _"Oh shit, just shit. I mean, fucking hell. Motherfuckinghell, just tell Ichigo, just tell him... -"_

"Why don't you leave him alone?" Tōshirō snapped. "He's obviously ignoring you for a reason, and so he'll talk to you when he's ready, not when you're ready."

"I... Fine. Can't believe he's gay..."

The line went dead. Tōshirō pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a while. That conversation had been weird... So Ichigo was having trouble with his... friends? Tōshirō sighed deeply and chucked the phone onto the bed beside him.

"So I just told someone that I'm in a relationship with a guy," Tōshirō pondered aloud, as if saying it would make the whole thing go away. "And I don't even know if he's gay..."

He groaned.

"Shit."

* * *

After realizing that his mobile had been in the jacket he had given Tōshirō, Ichigo decided to pour himself some really strong coffee. Thankfully he knew his mobile number and so would just have to call it, but he hoped Tōshirō wasn't some kind of freak that would muck up his phone or lose it or...

Oh how was he kidding? He had only met the guy twice but he knew he wasn't like that. He was kind and sweet and funny and sarcastic and unable to swim and...

"Oh man," Ichigo said, setting down his coffee on the kitchen table. Last time something like this had happened he had found himself with a girlfriend... "Does that mean I love Tōshirō?"

He frowned, thinking about it. "Maybe not," he admitted, but the ache in his chest certainly told him there were some sort of feelings there. "Ok, maybe I do. Oh fuck I need my phone..."

And without further delay he found his home phone and dialled his mobile number. Please pick up, please pick up... he begged, twiddling the phone cord around his fingers. Why did he need his phone? He could wait until he met Tōshirō again, right? But he might not meet Tōshirō again for a long time... Something heavy settled on his shoulders. Did he want to see Tōshirō again that badly? Or did he just want back his phone?

Oh god, what if Renji called?

Panicked, the other end of the line was answered, and he said, "Oh god is that you Tōshirō?"

_"Yes it -"_

"Please don't tell me someone called Renji Abarai called!"

There was a pause. _"Ah."_

Ichigo sank to the floor. "Did you answer?"

_"Yes."_

"Oh god... What happened?"

_"I... um... Well, I... I got him off your back..."_

That was certainly not what Ichigo had expected. "Oh?" he asked, surprised. "How?"

_"Er, well, I told him you'd talk to him when you were ready, and he agreed and hung up, but I think he was just hoping for a reason to hang up anyway because, oh god, I didn't mean, I mean, he just assumed and I didn't say -"_

"Tōshirō you're rambling," Ichigo said, as nicely as he could. From the parts of the speech he had heard, Renji was now going to leave him alone, but what had Tōshirō done?

_"I'm sorry."_

"Why?"

Another pause. There was a deep breath down the other line. _"He asked if I was your boyfriend and I didn't know what to say because he thought you were gay and I... I... I-didn't-fucking-deny-it-and-now-he-thinks-we've-been-going-out-for-two-months-and... and I think he's really shocked... And... I'msorrysorrysorry..."_

Ichigo blinked. Then gaped. Then burst out laughing.

"You told him we were together? Haha! This is brilliant! Oh god I wish I could have seen his face! Oh man Tōshirō you are AMAZING! Why didn't I ever think of that?"

_"You - You're not mad?"_

"Mad? Hell no! This is the funniest shit that's ever happened to me and - "

_This is the perfect opportunity..._

_"Kurosaki?" _Tōshirō's hesitant voice came from down the line.

And then before Ichigo knew what he was doing, he blurted, "Wannagooutwithme?"

_"Huh?"_

"I said, do you... wanna go out with me? I mean, Renji already knows so -"

_"What, you want to keep going with the lie?"_ Tōshirō asked, puzzled. _"Isn't that a little mean? I mean, I only said it because he didn't know who I was..."_

"So you're not gay?" Ichigo asked. "And you're not interested in me?"

Again Tōshirō paused, and Ichigo was very tempted to bite his nails nervously. Shit this whole situation was fucked up... But...

_"Shut up,"_ Tōshirō snapped, and Ichigo knew, _he knew_, that that was Tōshirō's way of admitting that someone else was right and he was wrong.

Ichigo's smile lit up the room. "There's a wonderful Chinese restaurant down town," he said. "Meet me there at six?"

_"Are you asking me out on a date Kurosaki?"_

"Yes," Ichigo said, and he checked the clock on the wall for the time. "So, Rin's Chinese at six?"

_"Alright, see you there... Ichigo."_

Tōshirō hung up. Ichigo stood, putting the phone back on the receiver and then stared at the wall in a daze. Renji was off his back and he had a date with Tōshirō - _Tōshirō_! This day couldn't get any better! The shit-eating grin still on his face, Ichigo raced up the stairs to have a shower before he had to leave, knowing he had no time to waste. Yet, when he reached the top of the stairs he stopped and took a deep breath.

"I'm going on a date... With Tōshirō..." he breathed, ecstatic, and slightly disbelieving. "Yes," he said, shaking his head. "At six. Must get ready."

And when he cheered, the blonde haired man outside his house smiled, and tipped his green and white striped hat down over his eyes.

* * *

**Hello~** Happy belated birthday QueenOfCirus! Hope you had a nice time, and I'm sorry for the delay on this; I've not been in the mood to write all week, having just gone back to school and all, and I just couldn't get this right; I ended up re-writing it a few times. Oh, and I did have to edit Downtown Downfall too, so that took a little while. However I hope you like this!

And now that this is done, guess what? I can finally focus on the next chapter of The Oakley House Hotel! (It's been almost a month since I updated that and I'm sure you're all impatient for me to get Chapter 3 up...) So yep, hopefully the next chapter will be up by the end of January!

Till then,

xTKx


End file.
